Download Festival 2026 expands: Metal, pop punk, Final Fantasy and Miss World Chile join Limp Bizkit, Guns N' Roses and Linkin Park
The latest announcement for download festival 2026 unveils a second wave of artists and confirms day splits, widening the bill with metal, pop punk, game-inspired metal and a viral Miss World Chile performance — developments that reshape the running order and ticketing timeline ahead of the summer event.
Download Festival 2026: second wave, day splits and dates in the context
Organisers released a new round of additions alongside official day splits. The context lists both June 10–14 and June 12–14 at Donington Park in Leicestershire; this discrepancy is unclear in the provided context. Day tickets have been put on sale and weekend tickets are available now, with additional day-ticket details and presale windows outlined below.
Who joined the bill in the new wave
The announcements add a broad mix of established and emerging names. New entries enumerated across the coverage include A Day To Remember, THE PRIMALS, Daughtry, Creeper, Hot Milk, DECESSUS, Silly Goose, Marmozets, BAND-MAID, Stampin’ Ground, Frozemode, Conjurer, Annisokay and Private School. One report describes this as 12 additional names; another frames the second wave as 14 new names — both counts appear in the provided context.
The Opus Stage, day splits and where acts will appear
Day splits are now official. A Day To Remember will headline The Opus Stage on the Sunday. Creeper, Hot Milk, Marmozets, Frozemode, Daughtry and Conjurer are listed to appear across the weekend, alongside Annisokay, Band-Maid, Decessus, Private School, Silly Goose and Stampin’ Ground. The new wave was positioned as adding depth and diversity to the overall bill.
THE PRIMALS, Masayoshi Soken and Final Fantasy metal
Final Fantasy XIV’s official metal group THE PRIMALS is part of the rollout. The Primals are presented as a Japanese heavy metal act officially endorsed by Final Fantasy, made up of game developers who perform heavy arrangements of classic Final Fantasy anthems. Masayoshi Soken, identified as Final Fantasy XIV’s composer, is bringing the band and this will be their first non-fan festival show outside of Asia. Soken framed those performances as tapping into players’ memories, positioning the audience’s game experiences as the core focus while the band lights a fire behind them.
Miss World Chile Ignacia Fernández and Decessus
The Chilean death metal band Decessus is among the additions; their singer, Ignacia Fernández, won Miss World Chile in 2025 and went viral last year after showcasing ferocious death growls. The booking brings a crossover moment from the pageant world back onto a heavy-music stage, with organisers noting Fernández will perform with Decessus after surprising many with her vocal presentation a few months ago.
Lineup context, legacy headliners and historical notes
These new names join headliners Limp Bizkit — making their first appearance as Download headliners — Guns N' Roses and Linkin Park. The wider bill already includes numerous established acts named in the context: Cypress Hill, Trivium, Bad Omens, Halestorm, Architects, Babymetal, Electric Callboy and Ice Nine Kills, among others. More than 90 names were confirmed for Download 2026 in earlier announcements; that larger list mentioned Bad Omens, Cypress Hill, Tom Morello, Trivium, Halestorm, Pendulum, Mastodon, BABYMETAL, Architects, The All-American Rejects and Feeder. Previous editions were referenced as context: Download 2025 was headlined by Green Day, Sleep Token and KoRn and also featured Weezer, Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter, The Darkness and Poppy.
Ticket windows, presales and sales rhythm
Organisers have activated multiple ticketing windows. One set of details in the context indicates a 48-hour exclusive PayPal presale beginning at 10am on the announced day, followed by a general on-sale at 10am on Wednesday 25 February. Weekend tickets are noted as on sale now in the provided context, while day tickets are said to be available in the immediate rollout. The announcement also referenced on-site purchase links and noted that purchases through those links may generate affiliate commission for the host site, and invited readers to sign up for newsletters for updates.
Organiser remarks and festival mission
Kamran Haq, identified in the context as chief booker for the festival, framed the second announcement as bringing further depth and diversity to the event and highlighted the inclusion of large names as well as THE PRIMALS’ first show outside Asia. Haq also referenced the Miss World Chile moment and teased further surprises, noting strong ticket demand and urging those yet to buy to act. Festival organiser Andy Copping was paraphrased in the context as emphasising the importance of creating a platform for new and emerging talent and developing stages such as Dogtooth and Avalanche to give bands the chance to grow. Additional personnel notes in the context indicate that Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor in early 2022 after more than ten years working at a metal-focused publication; the announcement also encouraged newsletter sign-ups and described editorial offerings tied to the rollout.
Some scheduling and numerical details differ across the contextual accounts; those discrepancies are unclear in the provided context and may be clarified by later organiser updates.
